Dirty Seller, Clean House

You know how I said we fixed the toilets ourselves? Paid for and installed the parts ourselves…

Well, I go to fix up the place before carpet gets installed and this is what greets me:

Isn’t the inside of this basin so pretty? I’ve noticed that all of this town has bright orange water. I’m researching filters, but our well tested fine.

Not only did he take the part that I paid for myself, he also clipped the chain on the toilet lever. Why? I have no idea.

It didn’t stop there. Someone also took the shower fixtures.

And the light over the garage. And the hoses in the yard.

I know that most of it’s no big deal. The only thing that really bothers me is the toilet mechanics I installed myself. But it just seems petty. And technically, it’s illegal. If it wasn’t in the contract, it is supposed to stay.

It really frustrates me because we love this house, but it feels more and more like this seller (or someone else) is sabotaging it. I changed the locks, so we’ll see if that is the end of it. It’s just a shame that something we’re so excited about is getting numerous kinks because of such a dishonest someone.

Not letting that stop us, I have spent this last week scrubbing and disinfecting and mopping and more disinfecting. No one told me that they added bleach down the well (I still can’t figure out why if the tests came back in good standing), so I am also sporting fingernails broken clear down to the quick. They hurt. I’ve never been the type to bite my nails, so I have rarely had to deal with the pain of them that short. Not fun.

But it works out, because since this house has been vacant for a while, anyway, I’ve got to let the water run. Mostly because this is not appealing:

While I was letting the water run, I got to play Rosie again. I have much more free-time than Ranger, with his work schedule, and it was kind of fun feeling all handy.

In the process of cleaning, we decided to add some contact-paper to the shelves. It was the only way to cover all of the previous owners’ stains. Seriously. Some things are just not going to be clean enough. We wanted a fresh layer.

The drawer with the new contact paper was the dirtiest, and the drawer below (which now has contact paper) was the cleanest. I like the look.

I fixed this cracked joint under the kitchen sink,

And pretty much every sink in this entire house. The guy must not have understood the concept of plumber’s tape (or putty). Every fixture leaked. I had to go buy myself a basin wrench. Among a million other purchases, lately. Lets just say Lowe’s knows me by name, now…

I re-fixed the toilet. But I didn’t have anything sharp to cut the new hose. It’s a good thing we just signed on a house and the letter-opener from the title company was still in my purse!

I put a light/lamp back in our bathroom…

To discover that there is no power…. none at all in the master bath. So the fan was a waste. I used a little multi-tester and we’ve discovered that there is power coming from the breaker (which is actually a huge bummer, because if there wasn’t it would have been an easy fix), but there is no power going to any of the bathroom fixtures. My dad (Mr. Handyman himself) says it’s probably just one outlet causing all of the others to short out, but it’s beyond Ranger and I. Time to call in a pro. Dang it.

The joys of being homeowners.

Tomorrow we get windows, though, and that will be exciting! Just a little bit longer. While they’re putting in windows, I get to paint.

Starting with the floors! Nothing like an old house, eh? The contractors we talked to recommended it for old houses. Especially houses in run-down conditions like ours is.